"There were stone pillars bearing Hindu motifs and sculptures... The beginning of the settlement at Ayodhya would appear to go back to the last quarter of the 2nd millennium BCE. ... In the uppermost levels... were encountered rows of pillar bases... the entire complex could be dated from the twelfth to fifteenth century CE. Attached to the piers of the Babari Masjid here were twelve stone pillars which carried not only typical Hindu motifs and mouldings but also figures of Hindu deities. It was self-evident that these pillars were not an integral part of the Masjid but were foreign to it. ... The first reaction that came up from a certain category of historians was to deny the very existence of these pillar-bases. Their approach was simple: if there were no pillar-bases, the question of their relationship with the pillars affixed to the piers of the Babari Masjid became automatically redundant. ... However ...[later] they gave up their first exercise in denial.... The demolition, though regrettable, brought to light a great deal of archaeological material from within the thick walls of the Masjid. From the published reports it is gathered that there were more than 200 specimens which included many sculptured panels and architectural components which must have once constituted parts of the demolished temple. ..."